Afrocentrism and Eurocentrism differ in many ways, and have help to advance the cause of both Africans and Europeans throughout history. Some would argue that had it not been for Eurocentrism Afrocentrism would never have existed, and in a sense the former is responsible for the creation of the latter. The manner in which both ethnocentric ideas view the world are totally different from one another but they are alike in the sense that they strive to place each of their ideals at the center. There is a long storied past associated with these two ideologies as well as a difference in opinion between and among the two. Afrocentrism seeks to teach a worldview that highlights the contributions of African people worldwide to counter the Eurocentric worldview which diminishes contributions made by non-Europeans or non-Westerners. Eurocentrism on the other hand seeks to teach a worldview in which European and/or Western culture is superior to the cultures of the rest of the world, and contributions made by Europeans and the West are of the upmost importance, and significance. These two vastly different perspectives are both very interesting, and serve the purpose of the advancement of the people in which it chooses to emphasize. Afrocentrism as described by most of its scholars as an ethnocentric ideology that places an emphasis on things African, and attempts to give Africans their rightful place in world history. Its aim is to shift the focus from a European centered history to an African centered one. Afrocentrism through the use or historical research of African culture attempts to distinguish the influence of Arab, European, and Asian peoples from that of indigenous African achievements. This worldview places focus on African civilizations that existed long before Greek and Roman civilizations such as Ancient Egypt, Nubia, and Meroitic civilizations. Afrocentrism and Afrocentric scholars use history as a way of teaching Africans worldwide their history and culture and reverse the Eurocentric history that has been taught to them which diminish the African presence, and contribution to world history.

Eurocentrism is a worldview which places emphasis on things European and/or Western, and views the world from a Western perspective. Eurocentric education places Europeans and the West in a higher esteem than the rest of the world. This ethnocentric worldview leads people to believe whether consciously or sub consciously that Western culture is universal and other cultures are not important enough to be studied or researched in any depth. For example those who were taught under a Eurocentric doctrine would learn about the Dark Ages and immediately come to the conclusion that this turmoil was not only happening in Europe but all over the world at that time. This perspective leads people to believe that Western culture and values apply to everyone and those who do not practice these beliefs and value system are backwards and primitive. The ethnocentric ideology known as Eurocentrism is a long developing ideology that has affected nearly every person on the planet in some form or fashion. As far back as the fifth century B.C.E you can see a Eurocentric thought of superiority being developed in the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus. In his observation of the Asian people he describes them as "barbaric" hordes who “despite splendid architecture lack European individuality.”(Herodotus) Eurocentrism began spreading vastly in the early 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries through European colonization and imperialism. Eurocentric thinkers and writers tend to believe whether consciously or subconsciously in some basic principles when it comes to looking at other societies and civilizations. Non-European societies tend to be despotic and servile, as against the West's freedom and individualism. Non-European societies are Islamic, or pagan, or believe in strange religions, which...

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...Today, many people can identify with the term "Afrocentrism." However, few people know what this term entails or what makes up the Afrocentric viewpoint. According to Asante, Afrocentrism has been incorrectly connotated and studied from a Eurocentric perspective. To be Eurocentric is to possess a desire for the material things in life and the struggle that goes along with obtaining such things. In addition, to be Eurocentric is to be focused around individual upward mobility and success. Asante argues that the concept of Afrocentrism cannot be fully understood from such a perspective.
His first major focus is on the way in which society is viewed from both the Eurocentric and Afrocentric perspectives. Eurocentrists, he argues, tend to take a linear view toward society with regard to its changes and advances. The Euro-linear view is based upon the ability to predict change and then to control it through the constructs of a given ideology or set of guidelines. On the other hand, the Afrocentric view is circular in nature--relying on the ability to interpret societal change and then to understand it.
To illustrate this more clearly, Asante makes note of the distinctions between the Western Eurocentric orators and Afrocentric orators. He states that when it comes to the discourse of Afrocentric language, whether written or spoken, many in the Western world commonly misconstrue its true meaning. In turn, many people find...

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West is considered to be the pioneer of the modern world. West itself considered to be grand, superior and pristine than the rest of the world. This notion brings in the concept of Eurocentrism. Though the term was coined much later in the late twentieth century with the advent of decolonization, Eurocentrism could be traced to the early Renaissance where classical works of Greek and Roman were revived. The Renaissance movement fostered the growth of European civilization. Europe became more self-centered with the advent of imperialism which took place around the fifteenth century, then the scientific revolution and the commercial revolution followed the imperial conquest, finally the colonizing mission which reached its peak in the nineteenth century followed by the industrial revolution heightened the sense of European superiority. Eurocentrism runs deep in colonialism. The West used science, religion or culture and philosophy to establish its superiority.
As Rajiv Malhotra points out “During the colonial era, the naive assumption of Western superiority was given authority by thinkers such as Hegel, who developed a ‘universal’ theory of history, which...

...Eurocentrism is a product of the era when Europe was the leader of the West and was also the dominant power in the world. That age is gone for America now occupies that position. Eurocentrism describes an attitude which affirms Europe as the cradle of world civilization. To Afrocentric scholars, Eurocentrism means “not only denial but appropriation of African’s rich intellectual and scientific legacy to mankind”. Eurocentrism puts the European as superior to all other peoples and the best example for man.
Eurocentric ideas have proved very resilience and still have far-reaching consequences. Eurocentric ideas form the basic theories upon which the West views or thinks of its relationship with the rest of the world. Consciously or unconsciously, the western discourse and interaction with Africa remains premised on Eurocentrism and this has become a major obstacle to mutual understanding and peaceful co-existence between the two.
This paper examines the tenets of the Eurocentric and afrocentric theories which were advanced in support of, or which provided the intellectual justification for western domination of Africa and Africans. The modern expressions of these tenets are identified in the context of the debate on the existence of African philosophy. The reaction of Africans to Eurocentrism is also examined.
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...and Steel. It is a book about human societies. Because of this controversial question, Jared Diamond tells us that “some readers may feel I am going to the opposite extreme from conventional histories, by devoting too little space to western Eurasia at the expense of other parts of the world,”1 but Diamond sees the modern world as an onion, layers of history that must be peeled in order to learn more about the historical facts of the world. The question Jared Diamond got from Yali was this, “why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?”2 This question himself did not make him dispute the Eurocentric explanations of this but made him question it. Eurocentrism is focusing on Europe and Europeans and their culture, history, and economics. It can be defined by Jared Diamond as This was because at that point in time Diamond was focusing on Europe. Diamond decided to write about non-Eurocentric history of inequality. Traditionally, the world was looked at in a Eurocentric approach, but a geographer, Jared Diamond has searched to find that this approach is unconvincing. He agrees that the west has a risen position of power in the world. Diamond analyzes this non-Eurocentric approach based on agriculture and geography.
First, Diamond tries to answer the question looking at the different agriculture between New Guinea and the Middle East. An advantage that progressed faster in...

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The second section of “Bodies in Contact” by Joan Scott, deals with the theme “Global Empires, Local Encounters.” In this section there are many articles that observe the effects that women have had on the development of societal structures that we see today. These social structures are a direct result from Eurocentric colonial laws and government practices that were instilled into everyday aspects of indigenous people’s lives and, I will examine the articles by Mary Fay, Lucy Murphy, Mrinalini Sinha, and Heidi Gengenbach that point out gender systems as the relevance in these societal structures specifically in the suppression of women. This analysis of world history based on male/female gender roles differed from those established through the dominant Eurocentric approach that came from many local encounters through European expeditions.
The first article that really highlights the idea of Euro centrism and Europeans ability to classifiy a group of people as being different therefore inferior to them is Mrinalini Sinha’s article which looks at British sexism and racism through the examination of the men's clubs established in colonial India. "A privileged site for mediating the contradictory logic of Euro centrism in the creation of a distinctive colonial public sphere" (Sinha, p. 184). This statement shows how British colonizers used gender as a way of “othering” not only...

...The Ethnicity of the Ancient Egyptians
Author(s): Herbert J. Foster
Source: Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Dec., 1974), pp. 175-191
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.
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THEETHNICITY THE
OF
ANCIENT
EGYPTIANS
HERBERT J. FOSTER
of
Department History
Staten Island Community
College
A persistent
historicalmisconception
has been that Black
people have developed no important
nor have
civilizations,
they made any significant
contributions world culture.
to
The historyof Black people since they arrivedin the New
World, as well as their experiencesin Africa,has been
treatedin this...

...﻿Avatar: Eurocentrism and the Colonization of Pandora
Initial Thoughts and Findings:
Within the fictional universe of James Camerons' Mind, the audience find themselves awaking in the year 2154 to a tragic tale of humanity succumbing to hubris: economic greed, and lust for power (political, economic, and social). Avatar sparks a rather interesting ethical debate, centralizing its' respective focus on the narrow lens for humanities survival through the colonization and resource extraction of celestial bodies within the Milky Way Galaxy. Although James Cameron does little to develop the current state of the Earth's political, economic, and social spheres, one can infer from the analysis of the film that Earth itself does not sit in the best position. James Cameron leaves subtle hints of: a Totalitarian Earth Alliance of Nations; Earth and its respective solar system devoid of resources; the re-emergence of Eurocentrism and a 15th Century Mercantile driven Economy; and the invisible domination of corporate power temporarily alligned with similar political interests (i.e. the harvesting of new resources to stimulate economic growth/for private gain).
With regard to the above, James Cameron created Pandora, a satellite (moon) orbiting a large celestial mass in a solar system located 4.4 light years from earth. This distance respectively places the Solar System of Pandora well within the confines of our homey slice of the galaxy,...

...and political structure that serves their interest.
Race
A grouping of people based on physical characteristics.
Human genome project has found that there is more physical/genetic variation within any of the so called races (film)
Ethnicity
A grouping of people based on generally distinctive cultural patterns (customs, folkway, languages, traditions, and etc.) and geographical origins.
Although theoretically separable in the us ethnicity and “race” are typically intertwined in peoples minds.
Ethnocentrism
Being so centered in the cultural history and general experience of one ethnic group , that the culture, history, and experience of other history and experience of other ethnic group appear marginal, wrong/abnormal, and inferior.
Eurocentrism
The practice of viewing the world from a European perspective, with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the superiority of European peoples and cultures.
Racism
A system of meaning that...
Constructs the very notion of race in the modern sense: that humankind is divided up to small number of bio-generically distinct groups.
Sets these so called “races” into a hierarchy of superiority and inferiority.
Promotes (rationalizes, naturalizes, legitimates) the domination of the so called “superior race” over the so called “inferior races.”
Racism V. Ethnocentrism
See book pg. 22
Any group can be ethnocentric, in that it sees the world through the lenses provided by its own culture.
What is...